I bought this "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" themed shirt from Chitown Clothing on Etsy, and sadly it arrived the day after Christmas. I was all ready to pack it away for next year when my mom told me we were going to have a belated Christmas celebration with my uncle. Huzzah! A chance to wear it while still moderately seasonally appropriate! So yesterday, we headed to Staten Island for lunch and presents. My uncle showed us some card tricks while we sat around drinking coffee. We also played a lot of rummy and I was actually really good at it. Who knew? I was supposed to work at night but unexpectedly got the night off. It was a great way to spend a rainy day off, that's for sure.

The internet is a beautiful thing. Without it, I would never have had the pleasure of sharing a meal with the lovely Lisa Chiu and her friend Vinna. Lisa and I became iFriends a while back. She bought one of my prints, posted about it on her blog, and when I saw I got some traffic from her, I reached out to her. Ever since then, we tweet about Brand New and food and things like that. When I found out she was in New Jersey, I knew we had to meet up. We got lunch at Jose Tejas, thanks to my mom's suggestion (high five, Mom!), and it was so good. I'm really happy that an internet friend became an IRL friend. Now it's time to visit her in Virginia! :)

Hello, my sweet friends! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas or Tuesday and Wednesday, depending on your culture and beliefs! My family celebrates on Christmas Eve and detoxes/unwinds/cleans up on Christmas day. Tuesday was crazy! I actually had to work in the morning, which was a bit of a bummer, but what can ya do? Then I sped home and helped get everything ready. My job for holidays is making all the anitpasto platters, and this year was ridiculous. We had about 15 different types of cheese, all different meats, olives and peppers and dips and spreads. It was a dream come true for me, because I'm a nibbler through and through. Our moderately small house was packed with family and friends. We ate, drank, watched movies, opened presents, and partied until about 3AM. That was the latest we'd ever stayed up! I slept like a baby.

I'm a firm believer that Christmas is about being with family (and eating like crazy), and not about presents, but I think that I gave some pretty a…

Something sneaked up on me in the vintage shop, my friends. I'm just 36 sales away from 1,000! What?! When did that happen? It's true, though. A Wild Tonic Vintage has reached 964 sales. Can I believe it? No. Did I ever think A Wild Tonic would make it this far? Maybe. Am I super-stoked on this upcoming milestone? Yes!

Today I decided that my goal is to hit 1,000 sales by January 1st, 2014 (when I'm planning on closing both of my shops for a few weeks to regroup). I have about 11 days to reach my goal, and while it's a bit lofty, I don't think it's impossible.Use code "MILESTONE" for an additional 15% off all items
which are already on MEGA-sale ($5-$10-$20-$30)!
Please share this news with your friends and loved ones. Also, if you're a vintage seller and want to buy up some of my inventory for a bulk discount, I'd be open to that! Send me a convo or email (awildtonic at gmail.com) ASAP! :)

As I mentioned in the last Film Friday post, I finally got around to watching "There Will Be Blood" last week. I loved it. Why don't I see these kinds of acclaimed movies when they come out? Why do I wait years? Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who also directed "Boogie Nights," this movie was visually stunning and totally engaging. I'd like to watch it again soon just because.

Earlier this week, I (luckily) had a few days off from my retail job and baby sitting gig thanks to the snowy weather. Don't get me wrong, I love my jobs, but it was really nice to have a few days to catch up on shop work, laundry, and sweatpants-wearing. While doing all of those things, I had a chance to watch a bunch of new things on Netflix. I caught up with "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," had my first "White Christmas" viewing of the season (yes, it's winter already as far as I'm concerned), finally got to see "There Will Be Blood" and "Fargo," both of which I've wanted to see for a very long time! "Fargo" is only the second Coen Brothers movie I've seen yet (the first was "True Grit"), and I can't wait to find time to see more! "Fargo" was awesome. I remember when I was younger and the movie first came out, everyone was talking about the "wood chipper" scene. Here I am…